...that all species were evolved from a common primitive form: “Would it be too bold to imagine, that in the great length of time since the earth began...perhaps millions of ages before the commencement of mankind, would it be too bold to imagine, that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living...

...Nature (1803), tracing the origins and evolution of life from microscopic specks 'beneath the waves', 'perhaps millions of ages before the commencement of the history of mankind'. Darwin's ideas about evolution (foreshadowing the work of his grandson, Charles Darwin) were raised...

...Nature (1803), tracing the origins and evolution of life from microscopic specks ‘beneath the waves', ‘perhaps millions of ages before the commencement of the history of mankind'. Darwin's ideas about evolution (foreshadowing the work of his grandson, Charles Darwin) were raised...

...hesitant, carefully honing his ideas into rhetorical questions: Would it be too bold to imagine, that in the great length of time since the earth began...before the commencement of the history of mankind, would it be too bold to imagine, that all warmblooded animals had arisen from one living filament,...

...time many of the changes of animals. . . have been produced, would it be too bold to imagine, that in the great length of time, since the earth began...before the commencement of the history of mankind, would it be too bold to imagine, that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament,...

...rhetorical question, of which about two-thirds is given below: Would it be too bold to imagine, that in the great length of time since the earth began...before the commencement of the history of mankind, would it be too bold to imagine, that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament...

...of the changes of animals above described have been produced; would it be too bold to imagine, that in the great length of time, since the earth began...before the commencement of the history of mankind, would it be too bold to imagine, that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament,...

...evolution. In one of his most famous passages Erasmus Darwin asked: Would it be too bold to imagine, that in the great length of time since the earth began to exist, perhaps millions of years before the commencement of the history of mankind ... that all warmblooded animals have arisen...

...living filament is and has been the cause of all organic life? Would it be too bold to imagine, that in the great length of time since the earth began...before the commencement of the history of mankind, would it be too bold to imagine, that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament?"...